Wild Wolf Night
by Wingleader Sora Jade
Summary: Semi-AU. Just why is it that Ryoga has fangs? Certainly not a result of his pig-curse! So... Why? Unfortunatly, Ranma and Akane are about to find out on a full moon...


Wild Wolf Night 

by WSJ 

WSJ: Oi, oi! Chocolate hangover... *moans and holds her head* I have _nooooo_ idea where this came from... The instant I read the lyrics to this song, I got two seperate ideas for it. One of them, this one, involves Ryoga. The other, _completly_ different version is centered on my other favorite character, Konatsu. ^_^ Well, enough with the advertisments. Here we go! 

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 does not belong to me, and neither does the song. Blah. 

Keep in mind that I have never, _ever_ seen an episode of Ranma, dubbed or otherwise. What I'm working with here are websites, about a million fanfics, and four volumes of the Japanese manga (3, 4, 7, & 8), which I can't even read. ^^;; Gomen... 

()()()()() 

Ryoga looked up from his map as the sun began to sink down behind the hills. He groaned slightly stowed the map in his bag, making sure that it and his umbrella were well hidden in the bushes. A soft breeze russled his hair as he stripped down to his boxers, folding his clothes neatly and putting them on top of his pack. 

Tonight was going to be hell. 

It always was, on a full moon. 

Across the sleepy hills outside Nerima, a wolf-call rose. 

_There's a good time moon on the rise tonight.   
I can hear the call of the city lights._

Ranma yawned lazily as he flopped down on the roof. "Bwa, what a day..." he muttered. There was the sound of a soft footfall behind him, and he turned with a smile to see Akane. "Kobonwa Akane-chan. Care to join me?" 

Akane nodded, a brilliant smile lighting her face, and she possitioned herself beside him. He put an arm around her shoulders and she leaned into his hug. Together they watched the moon rise. 

"Make a wish Ranma-kun," Akane said quietly. 

Ranma blinked at her. "Nani?" 

His fiancee grinned at him. "When Kasumi and Nabiki and I were little, before Mom died, we always used to wish on the full moon." 

"I thought that was shooting stars you wished on..." 

"Well, usually, yes. But Mom told us that shooting stars only happen once every few years, especially if you're actually lucky enough to see it. But a full moon is every month, so you can have more wishes." 

Ranma smiled. "That's nice Akane-chan." 

Both of them shivered as a long howl echoed around them. "What was that?" Akane whispered feircly. "I didn't think we had wolves in Nerima." 

Ranma shrugged, apparently unconcerned. "Akane, the very fact is, it _is_ Nerima. It's probably someone who fell into the 'Spring of the Drowned Wolf' and is convinced it's my fault!" 

Akane laughed. "There's a 'Spring of the Drowned Wolf'?" 

"Not that I know of, but probably," Ranma said, shaking his head. He affecting the accent of the Guide. "Oh yes, very tragic story of wolf who drown there 10,000 years ago!" 

The couple laughed again, and snuggled closer together. 

Below them, a wolf snarled. 

_There's a time to work, and a time to play.   
I've worked all I'm gonna work today._

Akane shreiked as the wolf-howl sounded again, this time as if it was almost on top of them. "Ranma!" Ranma leaped to his feet in a defencive stance, just as a huge, and I mean _huge_ wolf jumped from the ground below and landed on the roof in front of them with a growl. 

It was at least as tall as Ranma, if not a little taller. It was vaguly human-shaped, and crounched on its rear legs, but one got the impression it could walk upright, or at least hunched over, if it really wanted to. Its eyes were ice blue, and feirce. His hands consisted of four digits that could be considered fingers, each tipped in a wicked two-inch claw. A three-foot tail lashed behind it. The whole thing was covered in thick black fur that shown dark blue if the moonlight hit it just right. 

It opened its mouth to roar at them, reveiling row upon row of sharp teeth. The two front-side ones, the appropriatly named canines, were the biggest of all, showing even when the thing had its mouth closed in the form of hideous fangs. 

"What is it?!" Ranma yelled, backing away from it instinctivly. He felt Akane clutching the back of his shirt, and he knew she was scared dispite herself. Suddenly Akane gasped in his ear, and he turned his head a little to look at her out of the corner of his eye, keeping the other one on the- the _thing_. 

"Ranma," Akane whispered hoarsly, her eyes wide in either fear, amazment, or a mixxture of both. "Look, look at what it, he, has around his neck." 

Ranma was just about to question her use of male pronoun, when he desided to take her advice. And stopped and stared. And stared. And stared. He was still staring, in fact, when the creature knocked him and Akane into the koi pond. 

It, no, Akane was right, _he_ had one of Ryoga's bandannas around his neck. 

_Ain't no stopping me now,   
It's my night to howl._

The wolf-thing leaped down to land in the shadows of the Dojo wall as Ranma-chan and Akane climbed out of the koi pond, sputtering as they came. "Is it gone?" Akane asked. "What was he, anyway? And why did he have-" she trailed off, unwilling to finish her sentence. 

Ranma-chan squeezed some excess water out of her pigtail and frowned. "I'm pretty sure it was a were-wolf, Akane," she said. "I've heard American legends about them. Supposedly, they're half-human, half-wolf. They spend most of the time as humans, but if they don't spend a certain ammount of time as a wolf, they'll go sorta nutty. According to the legends they can Change whenever they want, and are _forced_ to during a full moon. As far as why he had Ryoga's bandanna..." Ranma also trailed off and shrugged. 

"Mmosstly grite Saotomme..." 

Akane 'eeped' and find behind her fiancee, dispite the fact she was a half-a-head taller then Ranma. 

Ranma narrowed her eyes and looked around, trying to spot the thing. "Come on out, whoever-you-are! You're scaring Akane-chan!" 

Out of the shadows near the far wall of the dojo came the thing. The werewolf. It was on all fours, but still came almost to Ranma-chan's shoulder. "You 'ave not 'rigured it out?" it said, giving them a contemptuous look. "Please Ranma, help me!" For an instant, the voice was surprisingly human, and very familiar. 

"Ryoga?!" Ranma and Akane gasped at once. 

The thing dipped its head in a shameful nod. "I-I do not quite 'ave contrrol over it! It wants me t-to k-kill! Help me! Onegai, help me Ranma!" 

Ranma gulped as a change seemed to come over Were-Ryoga, and not the transformation kind. His eyes turned bright red, and its lip twisted in a snarl. A low growl erupted from Ryoga's throat, just before he lunged for Ranma's. 

_This is my night to set this town a-rocking on it's heels.   
This is my night to go crazy just to see how it feels.   
I'm gonna dress up, gonna let my hair down,_

Ranma fell flat to the ground, pulling Akane with her. Ryoga flew over hteir heads, crashing into the dojo wall. Ranma rolled to his feet, and Akane bounced to hers as well, a worried look on her face. "Ranma, what'o we do? We can't hurt it, that's _Ryoga_!" 

"I know!" Ranma yelled. "Go find hot cold water while I distract him!" 

To her credit, Akane looked utterly confused. "Cold water?" 

"Just do it!" 

A growl erupting from the pile of rubble that was once the dojo's north wall prompted another 'eep' out of Akane, and she ran for the house. She banged her way inside just as Kasumi, Nabiki, and Soun ran down the stairs. Genma could sleep through a war, and Happosai was out on another 'raid', a logical night-time one this time. 

"What the hell's happening, girl?!" Soun asked as Akane searched franticly for something to put cold water in. 

"Werewolf. Ryoga. Ranma needs cold water," Akane said breathlessly as she ran back out side, her two sisters and father at her heels. 

They were just in time to see Were-Ryoga shake himself free of the rubble and go flying at Ranma-chan, claws extended. 

_Like a wild cat on the prowl.   
This is my, my, my night to howl._

Ranma was vaguly aware when the Tendos ran out of the house, but most of his sences were focused on his rival-turned-wolf. Ryoga shook his shoulders, the knotted muscles rippling under the fur. He then bunched up and took a flying leap at Ranma. 

Ranma caught the creature's front paws in his hands, but the claws raked her shoulder badly, causing her to hiss in pain. She fell backward onto her back, the five-hundred pound were-wolf landing on top of him. Were-Ryoga got a triumphant gleam in his eyes, and brought one of his unpinned back-legs up, scraping the claws down Ranma's right side and leg, mangling the flesh. Ranma screamed. She was used to bonboris, ki blasts, mallets, and even giant spatulas. But not sharp objects. She almost never had to deal with sharp objects. 

As she began to drift away from conciousness, Akane splashed the beast with water. Ranma-chan's last coherant thought was that now Akane would know that Ryoga was P-chan. 

_Turn me loose, I'm a dancing fool.   
That band's got a bass drum that kicks like a country mule.   
When the town shuts down and it's time to go,   
I'm gonna take this party home._

"Will he be all right?" 

"Mrmph." was all Ranma could say. God, it felt like he'd been beaten to a bloody pulp... He swallowed, and tried again. "What the hell hit me? Herb?" 

There was a dry chuckle, "No, Were-Ryoga." This was followed by a muffled sob. "God Ranma, I thought we'd lost you!" 

Ranma managed to pry his eyes open to see his family and most of his close friends gathered around his futon. Akane, predictably, was the one bawling her eyes out on Kasumi's shoulder. Shampoo, Ukyou, and Nodoka didn't look far from it. 

The Saotome heir blinked again. Wait a minute... Genma, Nodoka, Soun, Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane, Ucchan, Konatsu, Shampoo, Cologne, and Mousse. And they weren't all trying to kill each other. Kami-sama... 

"Airen is okay!" Shampoo shreiked happily. 

Ranma coughed. "Define 'okay'," he wheezed. "I hurt like hell. What happened to Ryoga, anyway?" 

"Right here Ranma," 

Shampoo and Ukyou moved out of the way, and Ranma could see Ryoga, human-form, sitting in the corner of the room. He had his back to the group, and his shoulders were slumped. Ranma glared at his back. "Just what happened? And how long have I been out?" 

"Four days," Ryoga supplied, turning around to face Ranma. He looked strained, and ten years older then when Ranma had last seen him. As a human, that is. 

_Ain't no stopping me now,   
It's my night to howl._

"I-I don't know what to say. I've always been a were-wolf, but then, I've always been able to keep in control of it too. You think me wandering away every few days was the 'family curse'? No, I don't think so. We're were-wolfs. The lousy sence of direction is so we won't stay in one place too long and endanger people too much." Ryoga sighed and turned to look out the window. "I guess I just came back to Nerima too much..." he said quietly. 

Abruptly he stood up, and grabbed his pack, which was by his feet. "Good-bye Ranma, Akane, everyone." 

He turned to go, and Ranma struggled to sit up. "Ryoga! Wait!" 

Ryoga paused by the door, and he closed his eyes breifly. He had a flashback, someone else had said that to him, called for him to wait, years ago. He'd waited. And he'd killed her. There were times that you couldn't keep the wolf in control. 

_This is my night to set this town a-rocking on it's heels.   
This is my night to go crazy just to see how it feels.   
I'm gonna dress up, gonna let my hair down,_

"Good-bye Tendos, Saotomes, assorted aquaintences," he said again, then half-turned to look back, just one last time. "The Hibikis are cursed. Pass that on to your children. To your grandchildren. Never trust a man or a woman with fangs." Ranma could easily see the longing in the werewolf's eyes. "I congradulate you. This is the closest place I've ever felt like I fit in." 

Ranma smiled half-heartedly. "Take care of yourself Ryoga." 

Ryoga couldn't help the single tear that slid down his face. "You too Saotome. Make sure Akane stays safe." 

And he was gone. 

_Like a wild cat on the prowl.   
This is my, my, my night to howl._

Werewolves are immortal. They live forever, unless killed. There is only one thing that can kill a werewolf. 

Werewolves can love, just like their full-human cousins. And they never looked older then their teens, unless they chose to. 

Ryoga Hibiki had fallen in love with a Tendo woman before. 

He wasn't going to hurt Akane or Ranma anymore. He swore that to himself. 

_This is my night to set this town a-rocking on it's heels.   
This is my night to go crazy just to see how it feels.   
I'm gonna dress up, gonna let my hair down,_

Three weeks later, Ranma's injuries had faded to scars, and he and Akane were back on the rooftops, watching the half-moon rise. 

Dispite herself, Akane burst into tears when she heard a lone wolf howl, somewhere far away in the night. 

_Like a wild cat on the prowl.   
This is my, my, my night to howl._

The body of Ryoga Hibiki was found just outside of Nerima the next morning, a silver bullet in his heart. 

()()()()() 

WSJ: ,0.0, OH MY KAMI-SAMA!!!!!! I KILLED RYOGA!!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Ranma: What in seven dimentions possessed you to write this?! 

WSJ: *sniffles* Well, I was just wondering as to where Ryoga got his fangs. I read the song lyrics, like I said at the beginning, and this just... Sort-of developed... Feedback please! 

God bless minna-san! 


End file.
